Sailing south from Opua to Whangarei, we pass the Hole In The
Rock. A tourist boat made the hole when surf threw it into the rock. Hmmm,
no...

In Whangarei we spent 4 weeks on various fix-its, including rebuilding
the base of our compression post. This post sits under the mast and supports
it.

Rotted wood and broken fibreglass was cut out of the bilge. The
blue line shows where the new base will be constructed.

We combined high-density foam and fibreglass to form a new base.
When we later put the mast back up, the compression post took the weight without
sinking. Yippee! Oh yes, a lot of flooring had been pulled up.

All was not work in Whangarei. Here's the Friday night potluck
BBQ and sailboat races. Most of the homebuilt entries failed to cross the
finish line - the skippers later consoled themselves with copious brewskies.

Barb & I drove to Auckland to pick up my parents, flying in
for a 5-week visit to NZ. Kiwis are keen on sailing, as can be seen by the
thousands of masts at the marina in this photo.

It was a picture-perfect day when my folks arrived. From -18C
winter to +20C summer: ahhhhh!

We drove a few hours from Auckland up the Coromandel peninsula,
to acclimatize and do some tramping.

A 45-minute clamber up to the top of Castle Rock promised great
views. However, 10 metres from the summit a nasty squall hit, wiping out visibility
and making the descent rather slippery. Crikey!

One small town has made its mark from the many corrugated-metal
sculptures scattered around.

These sculptures contained washrooms, the tourist office, and
various businesses.

Seeing this sign, I had a fantastic idea for the next product
that SPE should diversify into. (I used to work at SPE. And, no, I don't
miss work yet :-)

A cute little skink

Around Rotorua there's lots of volcanic activity. We spent the
night at one holiday park that featured its own boiling mud pit.

Being later in the summer now, the water temperature has improved.

Bjarne and Mom cavort in the surf.

Near Thames on the Coromandel Peninsula we tramped past many abandoned
gold mine shafts. Here's one that I wandered a few dozen metres into. Alas,
no leftover gold.

Nocturnal Cave Wetas are plentiful on the cave ceilings. Creepy,
but not harmful - they eat insects. The biggest Weta species can grow to 10
cm.